March 15

Daily Bible in a Year

Numbers 22:21-23:30

21 So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.Balaam's Donkey and the Angel22 But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Then the Lordopened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” 30 And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lordstanding in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse[a] before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” 34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” 35 And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, on the border formed by the Arnon, at the extremity of the border. 37 And Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” 38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” 39 Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40 And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him.41 And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.

Balaam's First Oracle23 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height,4 and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. 7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,“From Aram Balak has brought me,the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:‘Come, curse Jacob for me,and come, denounce Israel!’8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?9 For from the top of the crags I see him,from the hills I behold him;behold, a people dwelling alone,and not counting itself among the nations!10 Who can count the dust of Jacobor number the fourth part[b] of Israel?Let me die the death of the upright,and let my end be like his!”11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

Balaam's Second Oracle13 And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” 14 And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.” 16 And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” 17 And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” 18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,“Rise, Balak, and hear;give ear to me, O son of Zippor:19 God is not man, that he should lie,or a son of man, that he should change his mind.Has he said, and will he not do it?Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?20 Behold, I received a command to bless:he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.21 He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,nor has he seen trouble in Israel.The Lord their God is with them,and the shout of a king is among them.22 God brings them out of Egyptand is for them like the horns of the wild ox.23 For there is no enchantment against Jacob,no divination against Israel;now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,‘What has God wrought!’24 Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises upand as a lion it lifts itself;it does not lie down until it has devoured the preyand drunk the blood of the slain.”25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” 27 And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.[c]29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.Footnotes:

Luke Luke 1:57-80

The Birth of John the Baptist57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah's Prophecy67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,for he has visited and redeemed his people69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for usin the house of his servant David,70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,71 that we should be saved from our enemiesand from the hand of all who hate us;72 to show the mercy promised to our fathersand to remember his holy covenant,73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,might serve him without fear,75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,77 to give knowledge of salvation to his peoplein the forgiveness of their sins,78 because of the tender mercy of our God,whereby the sunrise shall visit us[a] from on high79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,to guide our feet into the way of peace.”80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Footnotes:

Luke 1:78 Or when the sunrise shall dawn upon us; some manuscripts since the sunrise has visited us

Psalm 58

God Who Judges the EarthTo the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam[a] of David.

58 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?[b]Do you judge the children of man uprightly?2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;your hands deal out violence on earth.3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;they go astray from birth, speaking lies.4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,like the deaf adder that stops its ear,5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmersor of the cunning enchanter.6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away![c]10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;surely there is a God who judges on earth.”Footnotes: